Okay, you all know that I went off all sugars and sweeteners last July on my birthday. And in January, I did the Whole 30 plan. Well, here is an update on where I stand right now.

Since last July, I have lost between 17 and 19 pounds (I am bouncing between 153 and 155) and nearly two pants sizes. I say nearly because I was wearing tight size 14’s and now I am wearing lose size 12’s.

Beginning February 1st, I added back in some dairy (about 10 ounces milk each morning with my protein shake (Spiru-Tein Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl) with no ill effects. But, each time I have tried to add in something grain-wise, I have had a severe reaction as in bloating, gassy and diarrhea. I’ve tried different types of gains from gluten free to oats to rice and all with the same reaction. So no grains.

I have not added back in legumes although I may try lima beans. Why lima beans? Because they contain a very high level of potassium and I am naturally potassium deficient. I get this from my maternal grandfather, and I know of one cousin who also inherited this problem. Because of that, I eat bananas, dates, green vegetables, etc. each day to get as much potassium as I can. I may make a chicken soup this weekend with lima beans in it just to try it out.

So, what is next? Well, since my weight is pretty much stabilized in the low to mid 150’s, it’s time to add in some form of exercise, especially now that tax season officially is over for me. I came up with a slowly increasing, 16-week program that I began yesterday. I have an appointment with my cardiologist at the end of next week and will go over it with him just to make sure it is okay to continue at the rate I have designed. I have been having some angina issues lately, which I hate, but the 81 mg aspirin a couple of times a day seems to be helping. Over exertion seems to trigger it, and I have been so sedentary lately, that any exertion seems to be over doing it, which is another reason it is time to get moving, again.

I still wear my Fitbit Charge HR pretty much 24/7 (shower and charging times are the only times it is not on my wrist) and I printed out my weekly status this morning. It is pathetic. My average daily steps are only 3,716 (1.23 miles), floors climbed is 4, and 1,611 calories burned daily. Like I said, pathetic. So, the following is the daily program for the first week – same thing each day except Thursday, which is my rest day. Thursdays are my lowest ebb energy-wise of the week, so I am taking that day off to rest.

Partial squats – 10 (partial so that I don’t damage my knees while getting used to doing squats again)
Side to side lunges (10 each side)
Walking – 30 minutes at 2.7 mph
Tricep curls – 3 lb weights – 10 each arm
Bicep curls – 3 lb weights – 10 each arm
Plank – 10 seconds
Leg lifts – 5 (I am laying on my bed with my legs off the end and am bring my legs up over my head)
Stairs – up and down three times (this is on top of any normal trips each day)
Calf raises – 10
Pecs – 3 lb weights – 10 times (I am lying on my back with my arms outstretched and bringing the weights up in front of me.)
Back – 3 lbs weights – 5 times (I am lying on my back with my arms outstretched and bringing the weights back as high as I can go.)

It doesn’t look like much, but it’s a start and will help me get back into the routine of working out each day. I actually woke up looking forward to doing another round today. I don’t believe in the “no pain, no gain” mythology. I am a little sore in the quads and pecs, but just enough to know I did something with them.

Steps walked yesterday was 7,145, which is still pathetic, but nearly double the daily average last week. I need to start getting in some extra walking in each day to get this up to 10,000, but I have to go slowly into this and not push it. This is something I will be discussing with my cardiologist because the angina attacks are painful, and I want to avoid them if at all possible while getting back into shape.

So, this morning I weighed 155. Let’s revisit this a week from today and see where I stand. Also, I will give you the Week 2 program with a comparison with this week’s so you can see the differences.

The last day of Week 15 is my birthday. I’m going to be interested in comparing where I am with where I was on the same day last year.